An Efficient and Delay-Aware Path Construction Approach Using Mobile Sink in Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

Using Mobile sinks (MSs) for data collection in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a prevalent method for diminishing the hotspot problem. There have been numerous proposed algorithms for data collection in WSN using MS and rendezvous points (RPs). However, the positions of the RPs affect the connectivity, network lifetime, delay, and other factors that substantially impact the performance of WSN concerning the critical applications. In this view, we propose an algorithm to solve the NP-hard problem of finding an optimal path while balancing energy consumption in a delay-bound application such as fire detection. The proposed algorithm uses a virtual polygon path and minimum spanning tree to divide the network and select optimal rendezvous points for the mobile sink. A convex hull-based algorithm generates the mobile sink's optimal path through RPs. We have performed extensive simulations and have compared our algorithm with an existing algorithm to demonstrate the efficiency. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the compared algorithm in terms of hop counts by 15% and results in improved network lifetime.